I’ve noticed that whenever I talk movies with someone who has similar taste, I eventually ask whether or not they’ve seen many (or any) foreign movies. Responses range from, “yeah, a few” to a slightly embarrassed, “no.” So, I want to quickly address this issue and insist you watch more.
The biggest advantage that most foreign (and independent) movies have is that they weren’t made primarily to make money. I am not a fan of art for the sake of art and that’s not what I’m talking about. But there’s something very refreshing about a movie that wasn’t designed to cater to the least common denominator of the American public.
The first essential is Life Is Beautiful. I’ve never met anyone who didn’t consider this one of their all-time favorites (unless they made the mistake of watching the English dubbed version). This was a best picture nominee and Robert Benigni (who wrote, directed, and starred) won the Oscar for best actor.
If you’re still unsure, I suggest Jet Li’s Hero. There isn’t a lot of dialogue and you’ll forget you’re watching a foreign movie. I’ve used this one several times to get people to start watching foreign films.
Working at our DVD store, I usually feel obligated to inform customers when a movie they’ve selected is not in English. The all-to-common response is their decision to put it back and find something else. But my all-time favorite response came from Corey Richardson, who said simply, “I can read.”
If you think about it, really listening to English dialogue is about on par with reading subtitles. Remember it’s not their fault you don’t speak their language nor should they be faulted for choosing to film in their native tongue or, as with Clint Eastwood’s amazing Letters From Iwo Jima, to film in the language the actual events were spoken.
So, you have your homework assignment. Let me know if you have any questions. Also please share your favorite foreign movies in the discussion board.
These are the foreign movies from my “list.” The full list can be found under the Favorite Movies topic on the discussion board. I did just notice Hero and Letters From Iwo Jima weren’t on there yet, accidental omissions.
2046 – Wong Kar Wai is a bad ass. I wasn’t a huge fan of his first English movie Blueberry Nights. But he’s made several good movies, and this is my favorite. I can’t even really explain it, you just have to watch it.
Amores Perros – The writer/director tandem that has since brought us 21 Grams and Babel started with this… and it’s the best of the three.
Brotherhood of the Wolf – Roger Ebert called it an “explosion at the genre factory.” I’m not normally a sucker for action sequences – LotR and Dark Knight are obvious exceptions, so it this.
City of God – One of the best movies ever made. Nothing more needs to be said.
Hero – Similar to Rashomon with the multiple versions of the same story, but with cool fighting 🙂
Letters From Iwo Jima – Went in thinking, “oh great, another war movie.” Came out thinking it was one of the best war movies ever.
Life is Beautiful – Benigni tried to make a comedy about the Holocaust… and it worked.
No Man’s Land – A frightening and sometimes comedic look at the Bosnian conflict.
Rashomon – From the legendary Akira Kirosawa (if you haven’t heard of him, you’ve got a long way to go); a story told from different perspectives with the truth left for the viewer to decide.
Red Violin – I’ll go ahead and count it, since I think less than half of it is in English. The main character is the violin.
Run, Lola, Run – Lola’s boyfriend calls and says he needs $100,000 marks (they’re German) in an hour or he’s a dead man. In a sort of Groundhog Day style, she gets three attempts.
Seven Samurai – Kirosawa again. One of, if not the first, foreign movies I ever saw. I never would have thought a 50-year-old Japanese movie could make you laugh and cry.
If you need more, let me know. Happy hunting.
(this article was originally posted on one of my blogs: http://hesaidshesaidfilm.blogspot.com/2009/07/foreign-film.html )